A bill introduced to the New York State Assembly on Jan. 26 would allow state agencies to accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment for fines, civil penalties, taxes, fees and other payments charged by the state.<\/p>\n
New York State Assembly Bill A523 was introduced by Democratic Assembly Member Clyde Vanel, who is often seen as a crypto-friendly politician. It allows state agencies to enter into \u201cagreements with persons to provide the acceptance, by offices of the state, of cryptocurrency as a means of payment\u201d for various types of fees, including \u201cfines, civil penalties, rent, rates, taxes, fees, charges, revenue, financial obligations or other amounts, including penalties, special assessments and interest, owed to state agencies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The bill does not obligate state agencies to accept crypto as payment, but it does clarify that state agencies can legally agree to accept such payments and that these agreements should be enforced by the courts.<\/p>\n
The bill defines \u201ccryptocurrency\u201d as \u201cany form of digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency […] including but not limited to, bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin and bitcoin cash.\u201d<\/p>\n
Depending on how this definition is interpreted, it may or may not include stablecoins like USD Coin (USDC) and Tether (USDT). On the one hand, the supply of stablecoins is usually regulated by the issuer instead of by cryptography. On the other hand, the bill does recognize that some cryptocurrencies have an \u201cissuer,\u201d and it provides that agencies can charge the payor an extra fee if such a fee is charged by the cryptocurrency\u2019s issuer.<\/p>\n